Quick Hits: Beltran, Wren, Padres, Marshall

Cornelius Alexander "Connie" Mack was born on this day in 1862. After an 11-year playing career, Mack went on to become the manager and co-owner of the Philadelphia Athletics in 1901 and was a fixture in the A's dugout for the next half-century. Between his 50 years with the A's (and three years managing the Pirates from 1894-96), Mack won five World Series titles and compiled a 3731-3948 record. Needless to say, Mack's records for managerial wins and losses will never be broken.

The Braves have been rather quiet this offseason but "the fact is we like our team," GM Frank Wren tells David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "We continue to have some conversations,” Wren said. “We’d have liked to have gotten something done in November in some areas, but just weren’t the matches….We’re continuing to work different options. This was not a good free-agent year, not a lot of players that impacted teams, especially in the areas we would like to get better in.” Wren said the Braves may wait to see how their players perform during Spring Training before deciding if they need to bring in some new acquisitions.

Center also discusses Anthony Rizzo trade rumors, citing the Rays and Cubs as the most interested parties. Center thinks teams who miss out on Prince Fielder (such as possibly the Mariners and Orioles) could look at Rizzo as well.

The Reds will use Sean Marshall as a setup man, not as a closer, once their deal with the Cubs is finalized, writes John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Fay also wonders if the Reds are working out a contract extension with Marshall, as the price of Travis Wood plus two prospects seems high for a reliever who is only under control through 2012.

The Mariners are still interested in Jeff Francis, reports Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (via Twitter). Seattle wants a veteran like Francis for the rotation to serve as a bridge for the team's young pitchers. We heard about the Mariners' interest in Francis earlier this month, and the Twins, Pirates, Cubs and Rockies have also been linked to the Canadian left-hander.

Former Marlins manager Edwin Rodriguez told Todd Hollandsworth and Jim Memolo of MLB Network Radio (as reported by MLB.com's Joe Frisaro) that he didn't agree with Miami's signing of Jose Reyes. "You already have an All-Star shortstop, why spend money on another All-Star shortstop?" Rodriguez asked. "Why not put the money into another player, like Albert Pujols or a front-line pitcher?” Rodriguez also wondered how "a very proud player" like Hanley Ramirez would handle switching positions and having Reyes be the center of media attention in Miami.

Sean Rod is a fine stop gap and Lee is the future. If they want to try trading young prospects for each other, I might be ok with Beckham for Rizzo. HOWEVER, WD40 would be a stud in the huge Petco, with a much smaller chance of HR’s, he would be a lot better, he would just need less walks.

It might be very interesting to you Braves, Royals or Red Sox fans that there was a tweet from Royals Review that said that the three teams are discussing a trade that would result in…
Royals get-Jair Jurrjens
Red Sox get-Joakim Soria
Braves get-Lorenzo Cain, Marco Scutaro, others (I’m assuming the + sign in the tweet means the Braves would get more players not named yet)

Even if the Sox give up a top prospect and Scutaro, I still think it’s a win for them. Losing Papelbon was a tough blow, and who knows if Bard is ready for “Boston closer” role. Soria has experience and nasty stuff.

Cain could be the long-term answer at CF if we can’t bring back Bourn but I’m not sure what he’d do until then. And the only reason I said Josh Reddick is because I don’t know anymore Red Sox prospects/brand-new major leaguers that actually fit lol

Heyward’s a bit of a question mark right now. Bourn will leave after the season, or have a fat contract, and Prado is out of position in LF, but will move to 3B once Chipper retires. This would be a move for 2013 more then 2012.

JJ is expendable not because he sucks (he’s quite good), but because of guys named Teheran, Delgado, and Vizcaino who are all potentially better then anything the Braves have starting now, and the Braves starters are good as of now.

Don’t be so sure about Chipper being done after 2012. He has an option remember, and he’s not one to turn down any offer unless he has a TERRIBLE 2012.

As much as I love Prado, and as much as we need an OBP guy – which he normally is – he doesn’t have many of the attributes of a typical 3B. I love the progress that Terdoslavich is making, though he’s still a ways off. Even if we re-sign Bourn and if Pastornicky proves worthy, they still won’t bring power. So we replace Prado IF Chipper retires after ’12 then we’ll HAVE TO get a power LF bat.

Atlanta seems to be acting on the assumption that Michael Bourn is a one-and-done guy for 2012 only (Boras client; in his contract year). Ergo, Lorenzo Cain makes perfect sense.

Scutaro also makes great sense as a utility guy/backup/challenge for Tyler Pastornicky as new SS.

The trifecta, if possible, would be Will Middlebrooks, the Sox 3B prospect, who they might consider to be blocked by Youkilis… give him a year at AAA Gwinett, and then he could have a chance to be Chipper’s heir apparent.

But if such a thing would happen, Atlanta would have to throw in a bit more… to both KC and Boston.

Which means they need a replacement — i.e., Middlebrooks (the closest 3rd base prospect to being ready).

+ Why would the Red Sox give up their best prospect for a reliever who just came off a bad/down year?

+ Why would the Red Sox give up their starting shortstop when they just traded away the leading candidate to replace him (if he were to be traded)? So they can have Nick Punto and Mike Aviles covering 3rd base (when Youkilis hits the DL) & short stop?

You’re right – there are things that don’t make sense… but like I say, if this WAS somehow legit, I would at least ASK about Middlebrooks if I’m Atlanta.
Thx for the Youk report – admittedly wasn’t sure his state… turns 33 in March.

I’d give up Reddick and Scutaro in a heartbeat if it meant Soria back in return. I’d even substitute someone like Hassan or Hazelbaker if they wanted someone a little further out. Sox are swimming in OF prospects, some further away than others- Kalish, Jacobs, Hassan, Hazelbaker, Brentz, Bradley and Westmoreland is even playing again. Get it done Ben.

Concur. Can’t see any scenario in which Scutaro is moved now that Lowrie is gone. Punto, Avilles are not going to be the starting SS and even though IMO the Red Sox offense would be able to handle a .200OBP Iglesias, it would totally ruin any chance of him learning to hit over the long haul with another season at Pawtucket more than likely.

Intriguing, maybe?
However, didn’t Dayton Moore say Cain might not be ready for the full time in 2012? To me that’s a problem for the Braves if they want him as a starter, how can he be if he’s not ready.

I’m not saying this is the best source, but there have been many of reports with less legs make headlines only to be shot down shortly thereafter by someone actually involved or close to the situation. Adam Jones rumors come to mind from yesterday. Connely reports Braves offer Prado and JJ plus anothe pitching prospect, only to have it deemed completely false by Braves writers (DOB if I remember right)

Did you even read her article? She’s actually one of the better writers that FanGraphs has, and her breakdown of the Giants’ payroll was excellent. It was sort of a misleading way that Mark linked to the article however.

Very good article, well worth the read for Giants fans. Outlines the Giants “try to win by doing as little as humanly possible” strategy very well. Bad contracts still haunting the club and dumping a boatload of cash on two aging lefty relievers … just not smart.

It would be the Bedard strategy that Seattle has used to great advantage in the last two years. Francis has a good chance of putting up great numbers in Safeco with the Mariners defense behind him. Then they trade him at mid-season to a contender for prospects.

NO. That deal is not going to fly. The Padres need someone that is going to stick at SS. If they are giving up Rizzo and Gregerson then they have to get back a legit SS prospect. Flores isn’t that, nice bat and all but almost all scouts agree that he is moving off SS. And again, Davis makes little to no sense for the Padres unless the front office truly believes he is a lot more then he has thus far shown.

A big problem for Wade Davis is the HR ball, the annoying one, wall scrapers usually. In Petco, those are fly outs. I think he becomes a strong 2/3 in Petco. I really do. It’s actually a bad trade for the Rays if we didn’t have 8 MLB ready SP’s with Archer knocking on the door to be #9.

And to be honest that might be a fair assessment of Davis, but still not of the Padres needs. The Padres are much like the Rays in pitching depth (no not to the same level) but lack offense. That the point. Davis is a nice piece, but for the Padres they have in house options that are cheaper and could do the same job. On the other hand they lack utterly so a SS in the system that can remotely be called a long term player at the position.

Peterson has a chance but is 2-3 years away minimum. It will be difficult for the Padres to get a stud SS. They may have to settle for a decent one and hope Blanks and Alonso can be solid middle of the order bats.

I think the Padres should go all in with the O’s or Rangers for Manny Machado or Jurickson Profar. Rizzo and Headley could both be used and Venable, Bartlett, and Hudson could be had if anyone has interest. Or it would be cool if they could somehow get Adam Jones from the O’s

Yeah, Padres have a much better shot at Hak Ju Lee than those 2 and Friedman wont be trading him. Machado and Profar are untouchables. Especially Machado, he’s the next teir after Harper, Moore and Trout.

I dont really like Hak Ju. He hit for average pretty well last year but thats really it and he was in like A-ball most of the year. I dont see him much better than like Drew Cumberland, assuming he can pick up where he left off after that crazy injury. Rizzo for Lee straight up is a loss for the padres. I wouldnt do it

MSG TO MARK POLISHUK: I’d like to suggest a re-word of your summary about the Bave O’Brien article. In that article, DOB quotes Frank Wren as saying:

“The fact is we like our team,” said Wren, who said the Braves might be
better off going to spring training and seeing how some of their own
players do before addressing their priority needs and seeing who might
become available to fill them.

Your summary seems to be missing the word “may”, which kinda conveys a different meaning…. as in “Wren said the Braves [may] wait to see how their players perform during Spring Training…”

Well Edwin, the Marlins *had* an All-Star shortstop, before he decided to waste the past two seasons kicking balls, playing badly, injuring himself on stupid plays, and badmouthing his manager. If the only thing the Reyes signing accomplishes is putting Hanley in his place, that would be good enough for me. But Reyes at this point is a huge improvement over Hanley. We’ll just have to see if Hanley will be a huge improvement at 3B.

The padres/rays/mariners should do a three team trade that sends Michael Pineda and Justin smoak to Tampa and padres and padres send chase Headly and rizzo to m’s and rays and rays send Friedmann and B.J. upton to Mariners and Padres.

the thing about prospects/suspects (even the good ones)…is that you just never know how they will perform in the bigs
because of his slow start – I don’t see the trade value there – and if he does pan out – then they will be selling Rizzo too low

I dunno. If I were a Braves fan, I’d be a little upset with that. You’re talking about a team that has glaring offensive weaknesses and also blew a huge lead in the WC in September to miss the postseason. The Braves are one more decent bat away from being NL East contenders, so for Frank Wren to be satisfied at this point is a little alarming to me.

As the link indicates, ATL also had the 4th best MLB record as of 8/24/2011. Don’t forget how good the season was up until then. We had a rash of injuries, major slumps by some stars, a first-year manager (of the team, following a legend (Cox)) still figuring out the team (imo), a weary bullpen (that was the best in MLB at the AS break), and a lot of rookies in a pennant race for the first time in their careers (but not the last).

Sure, those are excuses, but I think they’re also reasons. You don’t blow a lead that big without a few things going wrong.

They’re aware of the problems, thus why they’re not bringing back: Derek Lowe, George Sherrill, Scott Linebrink, Alex Gonzalez, Brooks Conrad, and Peter Moylan. Our top pitching prospects are just getting closer to being ready…and we’ll have more pitching depth than last year.

I find the contrast between the ATL and BOS offseasons amusing. Both blow massive leads to cough up the wildcard. ATL tweaks. BOS blows up the front office and coaching staff. The difference in reactions to the same situations is something, isn’t it?

Oh they were on the cusp, no doubt. But I think even when they were playing well, they still had some offensive issues. I have no worries about the Braves on the mound. Their entire pitching staff is as good as you’re gonna find, especially with the subtraction of Derek Lowe. But they really could use one more threat offensively. Chipper’s too old and McCann can only do so much as a full-time catcher. If Jason Heyward reaches his potential, that’ll make a big difference, but another OFer who can hit 25 HR or so would really help the Braves.

It is intriguing, but these are 2 different teams and front offices. We don’t have a team that will sit around during a game and eat fried chicken – and we surely don’t have a front office that would let that story get out. We don’t have a team that degrades their manager publicly, while having some members of management questioning players/managers on-field abilities because of their personal issues (Francona, Lackey). I could be wrong, but this is just from what I’ve read…and I’m sure there’s more.

I’m just looking at some of the differences, but BOS’s budget is a lot more than ATL’s…so their expectations are great. They have more proven talent than ATL does, so in my opinion, they needed to really question why their team was not making the cut. ATL’s reason stems from the fact that there were A LOT of lingering injuries to our major components – when Chipper is one of the healthier members of your team, you’re in trouble.

Frankly, I think ATL is closer to their goal than BOS. But, that’s just me. That’s not saying BOS can’t have some players get their minds right and actually play like they’re winners, but ATL has a lot of young talent that is learning what it takes to win consistently. After 2012 we’ll (ATL) have around $40M to play with and we’ll be rid of a lot of contracts that have held us down, while having those phenomenal pitching prospects possibly ready.